Reparations anyone?

[Not Insane]

Originally Posted by nailer

Won't speak for DQ, but generally speaking it's WAG, the kind the lets one feel better about oneself.

What's WAG?

[donquixote99]

Originally Posted by Not Insane

It sounds like you don't think modern democrats should be held accountable for what Democrats did 160 years ago. It begs the question, then: Why would you be in favor of the ones today paying reparations?

I don't recall saying I was in favor of paying reparations. While some still reap tangible benefits from slavery, while others have inherited the harm of it, I think we'd have much more of a unified and happy society if all on the bottom were better-cared-for, with investments and a robust safety net. Capital must be for everyone in a healthy capitalist economy.

The redistribution program outlined on the wealth-to-scale presentation is mainly good for getting an appreciation of what sort of concentration now exists, and the scale of possible alternatives. I would favor some different investments from their sample program. One line item would be big endowments on the state and local level to replace, for example, property tax funding of schools.

[mpholland]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

One line item would be big endowments on the state and local level to replace, for example, property tax funding of schools.

Or in increase in the marginal tax rate on the extremely wealthy?

[nailer]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

I don't recall saying I was in favor of paying reparations...

Well, your direct reply (first in line) to the OP's post about reparations in a thread titled Reparations began thus:

Originally Posted by donquixote99

Redistribute the ridiculously huge fortunes.

Pretty sure most would see this as being in favor. If not, what were you talking about?

[Oerets]

The country failed after the civil war to redistribute wealth from those who benefited from or were former slave owners. Just freeing them and leaving adrift was just plain wrong.

Sherman attempted to fulfill this to a degree with the forty acres and a mule. Was reversed and there we have it.
Living with the results to this day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forty_acres_and_a_mule

The act of helping all would address the Chinese builders of the railroads, Native Americans and all other used and then abandoned after the need for them was gone.

This country is full of families and companies who stole and continue to steal the wealth of the nation to this day. I'm just saying much like the first modern democracy did when silver was discovered in Athens.
Did they let a few get rich?
NO!
They used it for the better good of all, in the building of a navy to protect their democracy. No, here the finding of a resource in the USA will make a company and families rich. Not distributed as a benefit for the citizenry. Oil gas gold timber the list is long of the robbing of the country's wealth.


Trust me be glad right now it is equality at the center of the argument. By ignoring the suffering or just making little of it will not make it go away. Rather increase the solution's pain once it gets to a point where it is beyond cool heads deciding the answers.

[Oerets]

The funding of schools by property taxes may be the root of the inequality of class rooms.
Well to do areas have more to draw from. A combining of funds or some other way of collecting support is needed.

Throwing money without a solution to equality will not fix the problem. I never owned a slave or had past family members involved. Looking at it that way still does not fix the problem with the distribution of wealth. The old give a hand up not a hand out seems to be a solution that all should agree with.
Unless it is competition that make one afraid. Afraid with competition you may well suffer.
Equality is OK as long as you still win way of thinking?
If equality is obtained there will be those who loose and those who gain. The solution needs to as fair and understanding.
To try and make everybody win something.

[donquixote99]

Originally Posted by Oerets

The funding of schools by property taxes may be the root of the inequality of class rooms.
Well to do areas have more to draw from. A combining of funds or some other way of collecting support is needed.

Throwing money without a solution to equality will not fix the problem. I never owned a slave or had past family members involved. Looking at it that way still does not fix the problem with the distribution of wealth. The old give a hand up not a hand out seems to be a solution that all should agree with.
Unless it is competition that make one afraid. Afraid with competition you may well suffer.
Equality is OK as long as you still win way of thinking?
If equality is obtained there will be those who loose and those who gain. The solution needs to as fair and understanding.
To try and make everybody win something.

Programs to address racial bias should be aimed at giving NO ONE a material advantage for being a certain race. Robust and pervasive laws against economic discrimination in any context should be enforced. People get onboard with racial animosity mainly because they benefit economically and socially by discrimination.

There's an exercise that is done sometimes by equality lecturers--they will ask a White audience to raise their hand if they'd be will to change and be Black in our society. Generally they get exactly zero hands. This means everyone KNOWS Blacks are disadvantaged, however else they feel about things.

I'd like to find a way to get to maybe half the hands going up.

Redistribution of wealth, in a race-neutral manner, is not really a racial equality thing. I just tangented to it since reparations are generally seen as wealth redistribution targeted to Blacks and others.

[Not Insane]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

Programs to address racial bias should be aimed at giving NO ONE a material advantage for being a certain race. Robust and pervasive laws against economic discrimination in any context should be enforced. People get onboard with racial animosity mainly because they benefit economically and socially by discrimination.

There's an exercise that is done sometimes by equality lecturers--they will ask a White audience to raise their hand if they'd be will to change and be Black in our society. Generally they get exactly zero hands. This means everyone KNOWS Blacks are disadvantaged, however else they feel about things.

I'd like to find a way to get to maybe half the hands going up.

Redistribution of wealth, in a race-neutral manner, is not really a racial equality thing. I just tangented to it since reparations are generally seen as wealth redistribution targeted to Blacks and others.

Ask the men how many would rather be women, and the women how many would rather be men. Youll get a similar response. It's not that they don't want to be black. It's that they like who they are and they have spent their entire life adapting to who they are.

Half the hands going up shows strong dissatisfaction in half of the lives if they want something else.

And the people I've known don't get onboard with racial animosity mainly because they benefit economically and socially by discrimination. Rather, they see a certain race constantly acting up on television and in youtube videos and wonder, "is there something fundamentally wrong with these people?"

Dead serious.

[Oerets]

Originally Posted by Not Insane

Ask the men how many would rather be women, and the women how many would rather be men. Youll get a similar response. It's not that they don't want to be black. It's that they like who they are and they have spent their entire life adapting to who they are.

Half the hands going up shows strong dissatisfaction in half of the lives if they want something else.

And the people I've known don't get onboard with racial animosity mainly because they benefit economically and socially by discrimination. Rather, they see a certain race constantly acting up on television and in youtube videos and wonder, "is there something fundamentally wrong with these people?"

Dead serious.

Therein lies the root of the problem.
Seeing it only as "these people"!

We need to move beyond us and them, to a simple us!

[nailer]

Originally Posted by Oerets

Therein lies the root of the problem.
Seeing it only as "these people"!

We need to move beyond us and them, to a simple us!

Don't hold your breath. The us/them dynamic is genetic and it's in the code of many other species.